AdaQuest - Concept Phase 2

[IMPACT]

Intro:

AdaQuest is a game project combining three different game phases into one whole Fantasy World Game Experience. The second of these phases is our Dungeon Crawler. This proposal is focused on delivering the pure and fleshed-out concept for this. With this, we will be able to push this phase from concept to prototype.

The concept will include the design of these features:

• 3D isometric Dungeon Crawler
• Focused on coop gameplay (PVP & PVE)
• Unique and fresh never before seen mechanics
• Integration of advanced matchmaking
• Including main & side quests with deeper lore
• Discover, loot (also NFTs), fight & level with your NFT hero in hand-drawn environments
• Gain territory for your Tribe! (including metaverse options)

For more details please check out this video:

"Our first game mode is a WebApp and designed for fast-paced mobile PVP & PVE gaming. This is also the first use case for our NFT hero cards (you can take a look here )"

This is the heart of AdaQuest, as we like to call it. While the first mode is mainly about the single-game character, the Dungeon mode is targeting cooperative play. Of course, it's also possible to play this mode 1 vs. 1, but you'll have the best experience with your friends and collect more points for your tribe. We think that this is the logical addition to cover this challenges problem statement:

!Mass Adoption!

Adding more content is always a good way to generate revenue within the gaming business. Since Red Potion Studio is more focused on the mantra - GAME experience First - bringing this to life will deliver a real AAA candidate from the Cardano ecosystem.

!AdaQuest offers the fundamentals to accomplish this challenge!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Main focuses - AdaQuest Development

Game experience FIRST!

• Hand-drawn graphics
• Different game modes for different target groups & player styles
• Deep Lore related to the Cardano blockchain (names, places, people, etc.)

Reaching for a wide gamer-centric user base

• Real free to play model without any paywall or pay2win
• Easy and user-friendly game-account/marketplace experience
• Involving the community into the development
• Fair prices and no power creep related NFTs

Ensuring the development cycle

• Using our native on-chain token(QuestToken) for marketing and further funding
• Reaching out to DEX and SEED funding platforms related to Cardano (e.g. kick.io)
• Collaborate with other developers from the Cardano ecosystem
• Onboarding young talents through AdaQuest into the Crypto world

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marketing

Once completed we will communicate this through our social media and game-related channels. We also will use our business network from the games & entertainment industry. Showing and promoting AdaQuest with different partners like IGN, Checkpointhub, GEE Magazin, and of course a lot of Influencers, Podcasters, YouTubers, and Cardano Partners like Playermint, Muesliswap, or Cardano SWARM!

Key Marketing Strategy: Organic, steady, and healthy growth without useless pseudo Influencer and social media spend!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our KPIs

Even if we are free and not at the "mercy" of a big publisher or investor, budget and time are always issues when it comes to creating games. As an independent developer, the biggest risk is that you will run out of money or dev power. Either someone will try to sell you a service he/she can´t deliver in time or someone create something you already paid for, but in the end, it is useless for your project :(

To mitigate this, we work only with people we already know and meet in RL or worked before with them. Sometimes we receive recommendations or test young talents before offering them a contract. Our working and project experience will ensure to keep track of the budget and put enough into our reserve to be prepared for turbulences and struggles, which sometimes you can´t avoid.

That´s why we will track & measure this:

• New user accounts after releasing a feature (after releasing this CONCEPT)
• Website Visits, Page Impressions & Views (also YT, Twitter, etc.)
• NFT Sales (after adding the CONCEPT on our website)

Further tracking makes no sense for us since this is concept work!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Target Groups

Primarily:

• Turn-based & strategic hack & slay lovers
• Fans of competitive games
• Core gamers

Secondary:

• NFT & blockchain enthusiasts
• Hand-drawn art lovers
• Casual gamers

Tertiary:

• PC gamers
• Curiosity-seekers

Challenges

• Blockchain-related updates/upgrades that can influence our development
• Providing user suggested feature upgrades
• Merge mechanics, gameplay, lore into a fun and competitive experience
• Delivering the promised concept in time and budget

Risks

• Generating technical debt through "bloat" feature sets
• Compensation of non-productive time
• Unforeseen technological obstacles

Our risk management includes the experience we have gathered within the last two decades in games development. We avoid already some of the risks by clearly communicating our steps and taking precautions NOW! That´s why we never will drop a version, because for the sake of releasing something. However, we use some of these tools to help us minimize the risk:

• Only one weekly team meeting (tasks are distributed to each division)
• Tracking & documentation with JIRA & Confluence
• Overall quick communication through Slack
• Learning & optimizing processes by reflecting everyone's working style

[FEASIBILITY]

-- Q2 2022 --

May 2022

--> Setting up the Concept

Main focus for this month

• Game Design creating a detailed feature paper
• Art Direction supports this process with scribbles/designs
• Tech lead double-checking feasibility
• Team setting up a first Game Design Document (GDD)

Goals for this month

• Presenting first raw concept with scribbles and tech to the team

Staff: Game Designer, Art Direction, Lore Master, Tech Lead

June 2022

--> Finalizing Concept for Phase 2

Main focus for this month

• Finalize Concept Game Design Document
• Art Direction & Illustration delivering final artworks
• Final approvement through tech

Goals for this month

• Releasing the full concept with artworks, quest and character designs to the public

Staff: Game Designer, Art Direction, Illustrator,

Dungeon Crawler(PHASE 2) Concept team:

Tech adviser = 1800$/week

--> 3 weeks == 5,400$

Game Designer = 3100$/month

--> 2 month == 6200$

Art Direction = 3000$/month

--> 2 month == 6000$

Illustrator = 2500$/month

--> 1 month == 2500$

Lore & Quests = 2500$/month

--> 1 month == 2500$

Overall estimated spend == 22,600$

--> Rates & times are estimated on experience in the past!

Art Direction: Christian is our Illustrator and UX Designer with more than 15 years of professional work in digital art, gamification, interface- and app design in the industry. Starting as a big fan of the classic "point & click" adventures (e.g., Monkey Island, Beneath a Steel Sky, Day of the Tentacle) on DOS and hoarding tons of comic books, he turned his geek hobby into an ever-expanding full-time job! (LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-hayungs-9ba22457)

Game Design & Balancing: Alex worked as a creative director at Ubisoft's campus and as lead developer of Faith and Honor Barbarossa. He has considerable experience researching psychological and neurological sweet spots in game-based learning. With over 4 years of experience in game design, Alex is geared to bring the best gaming experience to AdaQuest!

(LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-cimpeanu-b9507a112)

Tech Lead: Dirk worked for Ubisoft, founded two gaming studios as a Dev Lead, and is currently working as a Technical Architect. He is the go-to guy, well in everything tech-related. Besides running and tracking our stake pool he is doing his magic to create the foundation for our project. 20 years of experience! IF var string = "you are looking for a coder?" THEN result = "Dirk"

(LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dirk-potulski-71313428)

Strategic Advisor & Founder: Marcin worked in marketing, sales, and project management for THQ, Ubisoft, CI Games, Daedalic Entertainment, and Rockstar. In the past 10 years, he has helped some start-ups in their initial phase, and he will also provide guidance for the Cardano gaming community, as well! (LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcin-kugla-a92b5964)

--------------------------------------------

Freelancers we are working with:

Artists, Illustrators, Animation, Design

Ann-Kathrin Raab - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-kathrin-raab-8b1815184/

Robert Schneider - https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertschneider138/

Celine Zirkel - https://www.linkedin.com/in/celine-zirkel-62304b220/

Oleg Gorshkov - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gorshkov-oleg-3408468a/

[AUDITABILITY]

As already mentioned in the Risk Management section[IMPACT], next to the KPIs, we also use well-known tools like JIRA, Github, and Confluence to track our progress.

However, we develop AdaQuest based on our internal roadmap and the milestones we have set. In doing so, we set realistic goals and report them as we achieve them through our social channels. Progress is documented and discussed with the team every week (Mondays). After that, we update our roadmap and take the next step within the development.

Offering a detailed and elaborated concept for the Dungeon Crawler (Phase2) will define the foundation for a first prototype. This will include the following points:

• Fully fleshed out game design concept ready to be implemented
• 1st Dungeon art-, level- and character design ready
• Quests, loot(NFTs), background story & lore finished

Achieving this will be the main criteria for success!

AdaQuest was already funded in Fund5. Since then we manage to become well known within the Cardano ecosystem (Gamers On-Chained challenge was initiated by us). Besides founding Red Potion Studios, we have hired people, started to develop AdaQuest, created a Web portal with user management & tools, and build a mission statement & vision for the whole AdaQuest project.

Without the initial Catalyst funding, this would never happen!

To all the VOTERS from Fund5 Thank you for this chance!

Nevertheless, as we stated in Fund 5 already:

Our project with the three planned game phases (ARENA, Dungeon Crawler, Skirmish Battlefield - https://ada-quest.com/howto#future) needs a budget of around 500K$. So all our proposals here are aiming to get additional support. Every missed funding from Catalyst will protract development, because of the nature of such a gaming project. As always we are keen to hear your thoughts. You are welcome to comment!

So far our Catalyst proposals:

Fund 5 - DApps & Integrations (funded - 100K$):

https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/351663

Fund 6 - DApps & Integrations (NOT funded - 75K$):

https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/365863

Fund 7 - Gamers On-Chained (NOT funded - 55K$):

https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/382933